Thinking about buying an open trailer

[mr2sc]

when I used to rent U-Haul, I simply put my floor jack under the trailer tongue to lift the front of the trailer this way rather than cranking away with the trailer jack

now, my 780lb custom aluminum trailer has 12' long ramps and a much lower bed (sorry...couldn't resist)

[Subw00er]

So It looks like I'll have this problem with every trailer I buy? Maybe I should just go for the Thule..

[mr2sc]

um, no, I simply specified extra long ramps and had it built to fit 'properly'.

[enjoythemusic]

Subw00er,

i use the grey Rhino ramps to load the car and i STILL need a 1.5-foot long x 2-inches high pieces of wood to clear the very low front aero. Then again the aero on the car here is very low (only 3.5-inches from ground). Here is basically what i do.

Park truck in position, leave engine on

Put grey Rhino ramps behind truck's rear tires.

Put truck in 4X4 mode.

Backup truck onto the Rhinos

Turn off truck, engage truck's emergency brakes

Then the usual unload procedure for the car with my added wood pieces at the end of the trailer's ramps.

Hope this helps. If you will be at Watkins Glen Sept 1, 2 or 3 you can see my setup in action.

[Subw00er]

Steven, thanks for the info.

It looks like I'll be picking up a new featherlight this weekend. The thing that sold me is that I found out I can just drive up on it without extra effort. I guess it clears ok because the deck is low enough and the ramps are a foot longer than normal.

Steven, do you have pictures of your trailex wheel carrier on your featherlite? How is it attached? I was thinking of buying beer for my welder friend and telling him to go crazy with aluminum stock, or even making it myself out of pvc or metal pipe. Perhaps thats a bad idea.. worst case, I'll just throw them in the back of the truck!

Sorry I cant make it to WGI. Hope you have a good time!

Thanks for everyone's input.

[enjoythemusic]

Steven, thanks for the info. It looks like I'll be picking up a new Featherlite this weekend....

Congrats! May it bring you many wonderful years of track hauling bliss. i like the low CG of the Featherlite too. Trust me, my car is a B---- to load on ANY trailer. Taking off the front aero for load/unload in not an option (tried all kinds of ideas, none work).

Steven, do you have pictures of your Trailex wheel carrier on your Featherlite? How is it attached?

The Trailex tire carrier is very well designed, all aluminum and lightweight. i'll leave creative engineering to other guys as doing 75mph on the highway with 100+ lbs of $$$$ rims and tires at risk (and if your rigged setup falls apart the flying bits are a lawsuit waiting to happen).

My rig is at the mechanics (we are replacing all 4 CV boots, rear brake rotors/pads...). E-mail me at steve AT enjoythemusic DOT com and title your e-mail with ALL CAPS asking about TRAILEX TIRE RIG.

Basically, you drill mounting holes into the side of the Featherlite's side uplip close to the front. i think you need to space the holes 16-inches or so, the Trailex guys send a schematic with their rig. Of note is that due to my car's very low front, and my desire for low CG, i mounted the tire/rim bar and supporting square pieces so they are a mere 3 inches from the car's hood.

Congrats on the Featherlite, am sure it will bring you many years of service. In my setup the Prodigy only needs to be set at 4.2 with basic boost on.


Ok, you felt buying the trailer was all you needed, but guess here i will sound like a salesman... Just some options to make life easier. Get a Superwinch 3000 if you can and also get a nice Owens aluminum locking storage wedge (large version, $199 to $299 depending on vendor) and have them mount it on the front lip of the trailer. Wish you could see my setup, it has saved me a few times as have lots of tools, jack stands, jacks, fluids and supplies all neatly fit into the storage bin.


If i may be so bold, you should stick to the side of the trailer's outerlip some DOT red/white/red 3M reflective tape. When you see my pics you'll see what i mean. Sometimes people do not fully see things at night, so adding the 3M reflective tape keeps them at bay.

REMEMBER: SAFETY FIRST as you will be hauling lots of weight in a long package and take turns appropriated and those YELLOW SPEED LIMIT SIGNS during offramps you always ignored in the car, BELIEVE THEM WHEN YOU ARE TRAILERING!!! If you are like me, you will be hauling a grand total of about 25+ years of life's savings.